Preface to Principles of Equity and Trusts Law in Hong Kong

 

This is a student edition of Lawrence Ma's Equity & Trusts Law in Hong Kong. The chapters of this book are largely selected from the pages of its parent text and adapted to the needs of a student audience.

 

There is, in the authors' view, a pressing need for a student text that looks at Equity & Trusts from a Hong Kong perspective. The reasons are the same as those advanced in the preface to the first edition of Equity & Trusts Law in Hong Kong. UK textbooks (on which Hong Kong students have relied until now) necessarily deal with the law as it has developed there. The UK has its own legislation in this area that has no parallel in Hong Kong. Further, the CFA has developed the law of equity and trusts in Hong Kong and, thus, the Hong Kong system (although part of the common law world) requires its own special treatment. Then there is the need to consider the impact of equity on Chinese institutions and practices in Hong Kong. Finally, as Equity & Trusts Law in Hong Kong illustrates vividly, there is a wealth of Hong Kong cases that can be used to illustrate the practical impact of equity and trusts law in the Hong Kong context.

 

The topics covered in this book have been chosen to meet the needs of students of Equity and Trusts in Hong Kong. The first thirteen chapters represent the core of the book and the final chapters on undue influence and confidential information provide some further illustrations of the practical importance of equitable principles in domestic and commercial relationships.

 

The authors would like to thank Professor Swati Jhaveri of the Chinese University of Hong Kong for her kind permission to use some of her questions in the self-test questions in some chapters of the book. They would also like to thank Dr Gordon Chan for his valuable help in reading and commenting on the text (though responsibility for any errors remains theirs).

 

 

 

Lawrence Ma

Michael Lower